Civil Rights

2. Investments in community policing and civilian oversight of police departments

3. End of bureaucratic and personal coercion where cops are discouraged and threatened to report the actions of bad cops.*

*please note that for far too long, too many occupations, rather it be in the military, the police force, or in politics, we have observed bureaucratic coercion where he or she who speaks up against evil is often the one who pays the price; the one who passively accepts evil and stays silent is often rewarded and encouraged. This kind of mentality and policy must end where there will be serious legal consequences, not just for those who took part in an immoral action, but those who saw it and said nothing.

4. Police departments will be required to collect data on all police shootings and deaths that take place while in police custody and make the data public

5. Training for police and other occupations to learn de-escalation of confrontations, and regulation of emotions when interacting with others

6. Encouraging, if not requiring diversity in all occupations that largely interact with the community -We have not done enough to prevent the abundance of white doctors, white lawyers, white policemen, etc. No occupation should be monopolized by one race or one gender; this phenomenon has serious implications to the society at large.

7. The end of the private prison industry, the end of a dependence on fines, fees or asset forfeitures as a source of revenue, and the end a legal system that rewards their officials based on the number of indictments, convictions, etc., they obtain. For example, the merit of one being appointed to district attorney should not be based on how many people they put in jail or how many life sentences they got without parole. Merit should be based on how well one sought justice, assuring that innocent men do not go to jail, and guilty men do not seek a punishment that is inappropriate for the wrong they have committed. We shall not have a system that encourages plea-bargains simply because it is financially beneficial to certain parties involved. The goal of our legal system should be to pursue justice and not to encourage plea-bargains for a likely innocent person so he or she can avoid a harsher sentence by going to trial.

8. Elimination of a bail system that drastically affects the poor and minorities, removal of all mandatory minimum sentencing.

9. The elimination of the death penalty.

10. Funds will be adequately provided so public defenders are not overburdened with cases. More shall be done to encourage individuals to go into this type of law. We can not have a legal system where the best and brightest are not encouraged to go into certain types of law because they are significantly less lucrative. When comparing the average salary of a public defender to a corporate lawyer, the salaries are absurd.

11. The federal legalization of marijuana and the end of the War on Drugs in general. People who have been imprisoned for use of any drug shall be released immediately and given mental health treatment instead. However, if individuals who use drugs in a limited fashion, are able to prove they do so in a manner where they are not harming society and it does not interfere with their functioning, then we should consider releasing them from any kind of required treatment.

12. Laws can not be based on what our congressman or media tells us but what the research and empirical science says. Criminologists, psychologists and other forms of research should be used to help us determine the best laws to implement that will maximize efficiency of society, and reduce reincarceration rates. We can not continue to give harsh sentences to people guilty of drug trafficking and drug distribution without any empirical basis that these penalties actually reduce crime or help them become more law-abiding citizens when they are released.

13. We shall inspire our prisons and prison system as a whole to look more like Norway's. This includes a significant limitation on issuing life sentences in this country.

14. We must prevent employers from discriminating against applicants based on criminal history by “banning the box.”

15. The new form of segregation that exists in this country is an embarrassment. Property values can not fluctuate based on the demographics of the community. Public housing shall be available in all neighborhoods and rent control will be significantly expanded to prevent gentrification. America has become the country of gated communities where the rich often do not interact or see the poor; white Americans do not often interact or see people displaying skin color different than their own. This must change.

16. America has created a cycle of poverty for various minorities,where the sins of our country's past largely affect men and women of color in the present. Various resources shall be exclusively devoted to communities of color to rebuild and improve the lives of many.

17. Implementing comprehensive immigration reform that will legalize millions of Americans -the path for the eleven million undocumented to obtain citizenship shall be swift, fair and simple.